MSWORD TRACK CHANGES FUNCTION

Copper Contributor

I'm the original creator of a Word doc. Emailed the doc to person who emailed the doc back to me showing changes in red using 'Track Changes'. I'm trying to make changes to the doc using 'Track Changes' which start out blue which is fine then my changes automatically convert to red after 5 seconds or so.  I've never had this problem using Track Changes before and use the function frequently.  Had remote sessions with 2 separate Microsoft support techs who updated Office 365, checked compatibility settings etc.  The 2nd tech support person was not able to find the problem and suggested reaching out to the community - so here I am seeking help...

11 Replies

@Mike_FinkMfink99 

Have you set the color to be used via the Advanced Track Changes Options dialog accessible from the Track Changes Options dialog which is accessed via the dialog launcher in Tracking section of the Review tab of the ribbon.

 

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@Mike_FinkMfink99 

 

As Doug suggested, you can choose a specific color for the tracked changes.

 

If you let Word manage the colors, you are not given any control over which color you see. 

@Stefan_Blom 

Yes, but regardless of color chosen all edits turn to red after 5 - 10 seconds.  My remote session with 2 different Microsoft support techs yielded nothing.  The 2nd tech support person sent me to the Community.  

 

If you send a copy of the document to me at dougrobbinsmvp[at symbol]gmail[dot]com I will take a look to see if there is something unusual that may be causing the issue.

@Doug_Robbins_Word_MVP 

Doug - thx for offering to take a shot.  Attached is the doc.  last Microsoft tech guy was stumped and is supposed to get back to after more research but haven't heard back yet.  Still have the prob after reinstalling Office 365 and prob occurs with other docs also so it's not just limited to the attached doc.  Appreciate any thing you come up with.  

@Mike_FinkMfink99 

Can you provide a screen shot showing how you have set the Advanced Track Changes Options.

With the Advanced Track Changes Options set up as shown below, the several changes that I have made are shown in the colors selected and after quite a few minutes have not changed

Doug_Robbins_Word_MVP_0-1644714624467.png

 

@Doug_Robbins_Word_MVP 

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I created the original doc and recvd the redline back from the person I sent it to (his comments are in red).  Now I'm using track changes and my changes should show in blue but also showing his comments in red so we each can see changes made by each other.  Thinking about this...maybe I'm not using track changes correctly?    

@Mike_FinkMfink99 Make sure that when you click on Specific People from the Show Markup dropdown that you appear as a separate entity.  If that is the case, if you select by Author in the Advanced Track Changes dialog, your changes should appear in a different colour

Doug_Robbins_Word_MVP_0-1644730787342.png

If you click on the Balloons fly-out and select Show Revisions in Balloons, the name of the person who deleted text will be shown

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@Mike_FinkMfink99 

 

As Doug suggested, looking into which Specific People are listed as reviewers might give important clues. Personally, I would also enable the option in Word that uses the user name specified in the Word Options dialog box rather than the online/OneDrive settings. 

I appreciate everyone's help. I've tried all suggestions the best I can but it's still not working the way I think it should. I very well could be using track changes incorrectly or have false expectations. At this point, it's best if I meet 'in person' with a tech person who knows track changes well. I'm sure we'll figure it out. Thx again.

@Mike_FinkMfink99 As an example of Stefan's suggestion, under File>Options>General, I inserted Donald Duck as the User Name.  If I check the box for "Always use these values regardless of sign in to Office"

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and then replace the word Lease with Agreement in the first line of the paragraph under Basic Terms, the word "Agreement" appears in a purple font and the deletion of Lease is attributed to Donald Duck (When show revisions in Balloons is activated)

 

If I uncheck that box and replace the word Lease with Agreement in the second line, the word "Agreement" appears in Red and the deletion is attributed to my Log On Name. 

Doug_Robbins_Word_MVP_1-1644789137852.png

 

 

In this case, the original revisions made by the Author are shown in Blue (when revisions are shown in-line)

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